Married Catharine Friermood on 20 May 1806, Champaign County, Ohio.
Article - A Remarkable Homestead And Family History Written in about 1905-06, submitted by Tom Rosenberger Probably written by a son of Ostrander & Elizabeth (Huffman) Price, older sister of John Huffman.
Four miles west of the city of Springfield, Ohio, half in Bethel and half in Springfield Township on the Lower Valley Pike is the old Jacob Huffman farm and stone house. It is a well-known place and to those that live in the west end of the County needs no description. The land undulates back from the north bank of Mad River becoming rolling and somewhat hilly with some bluffs to the east side of the farm. But with the exception of a small portion it is tillable and productive.
The first tenant of the place, Jacob Huffman, came to this country in company with his father and mother and settled on the place in the year 1802, purchasing the land from the Government for $1.25 per acre. He bought about 200 acres. It was located at this time wholly within the bounds of Champaign County and not in Clark as now.
In order to get at the ancestry of this man we must go back to the year 1739. The record show that Henry Huffman, who was the father of Jacob Huffman, was born on the 24th of February in the above-stated year. He is supposed to have been a native of Germany as the records are all written in the German language. He emigrated to America sometime prior to the Revolutionary War settling in the southeastern part of the State of Pennsylvania, where in 1767 or 1768 he married his wife, Agnes, who also was of German descent, having previously come over from that country. To this union were born three children: Jacob, who was born April 29th, 1769; Martha, born Jan. 9th, 1771 and Catherine, born Jan. 11th 1773.
After living some years in Pennsylvania, the family moved to the State of Virginia, locating in Botetourt County on the headwaters of the James River. After several years residence in Virginia, the son, Jacob, emigrated to the West locating first in the town which is now the City of Detroit, Michigan where he worked at the trade of shipbuilding. He evidently concluded about this time to locate permanently in Ohio, as tradition has it that he made two trips by blazed tree route in the winter of 1801-02 between Detroit and old Fort Washington, now the City of Cincinnati, Ohio where the land office was situated in the district where he located his farm.
After settling on the place in the year 1802 he began the construction of a one room round log cabin built out of surrounding timber which completely covered their farm at this time. The house was situated about 40 rods to the south and a little east of the present stone structure or in other words, south of the Lower Valley Pike towards Mad River. This structure has long since passed out of existence.
Shortly after finishing this house, or about the same time, he was married to Miss Catharine Frimood, daughter of the late Geo. Frimood of near Fremont, Ohio. These two sturdy pioneers worked together, clearing out the land-the wife of times helping her husband by taking driftwood from the river adjacent to their home. Tradition also has it that they frequently fed the Indians who would come about their house for nearby there was a large town by the name of Old Piqua, situated about a mile and half west of them along the river.
On the 30th May, 1807 in this cabin home was born a son, Henry Huffman, the only child born in this house. Shortly after this the father, Jacob Huffman, and his wife, for she seems always to have taken an active part with him, began the erection of a two-story hewed log house of very much larger dimensions, quite excelling the original one. It is said that this house was one of the finest in those days and was situated immediately north and back of the present stone house. Some part of the logs that composed this structure were hewed by moonlight, the time during the day being taken up with other duties. The time required during the building of this house seems to have been approximately two to three years for we find that the next child, Elizabeth by name, was born in this house March 15th, 1810.
Likewise, the other children, eight altogether in addition to the two we have mentioned, were born in the house on the following dates: John in 1812; Adam and Eve, twins, in 1814; Reuben in 1816; Martha (no date of birth known); Rachel in 1825; Jacob in 1829 and Samuel in 1831.
These early days were the time of the flax break spinning wheel and carding machine for people did not have store clothes at this time but made their own waring apparel from 'the ground up'. It was also before the time of the cook stoves, gas range, steam radiators and furnaces. For cooking they had the Dutch oven, pot mettle and crane that hung in the big open fire place and hearth that was built in the chimney at the gable end of the house.
Of the original family of Jacob Huffman, there remains but one, Samuel, the youngest, residing in Springfield who is now 75 yrs. of age. Also, there are the two widow, Susanna, wife of John Huffman, now in her 89th year, living at or near Mt. Zion, Indiana and Sarah Huffman, wife of Jacob Huffman, now in her 77th year living in Springfield.
In the years 1825 was begun the erection of the two-story stone house still standing and which has the appearance of standing for ages to come is not torn down. There was previously built in 1827, a stone smoke house which still stands. Also, a stone granery. This has been removed and used in the construction of some other building since built. But the stone house seems to have been the special effort of the lives of Jacob Huffman and his wife. This house stood immediately in front of and to the south of the two-story log house, setting squarely on the brow of the hill which rises from the Valley of Mad River to the north. It is composed of building stone, all quarried on the farm by Jacob himself, and dressed to finish-a task which must have taken an immense amount of labor for one man to do. The walls were two feet thick from the foundation to the second story and from there up they were eighteen inches, the storys being ten feet. Each stone was dressed inside and out, therefore needing no plaster or paint except on the doors and windows. The poplar joist and white oak floor all finished up nicely answered both for ceiling and floor as well. The shingles were made of black walnut timber by hand.
It took about eight years with some help from his wife, Catherin Huffman and the fourth son, Rueben, in the construction of this building. All material in it is the product of the place and it is not to be wondered at taking so long a time when we take into consideration that it was practically the result of one man's labor. He took precaution that it should not be forgotten who was the architect and builder for we find that he placed over the front door in the wall, a solid stone coping with this inscription chiseled in it by himself: "Jacob and Catherin Huffman, 1832".
And no matter how often the property changes hands, the inscription remains as a reminder of the builder. There was also a stone partition running the entire height of the structure from foundation to roof, dividing it into four compartments with elevated stone steps to the entrance of the second story on the back part of the house.After this home was finished in 1832, the family moved into it from the two story log house, standing back of it.
On December 1st, 1842, Jacob Huffman died, being 72 years 7 months of age. Catherin, his wife, or Granny as she was familiarly spoken of, followed him in the year 1866, August 31st in her 80th. She was a remarkable woman of well known integrity and uprightness, scrupulously exact about her household duties. Hers was a home where the latch string always was on the outside and where friends and neighbors was welcome at all times.
The writer well remembers when, a lad of 6 or 8 years, and in the company with other youngsters of the family, we would linger around Granny's door waiting to get an invitation to come in to dinner of which we considered her an expert in the preparation of.
The witness to the deed for the farm from the government reads as follows: "In testimony where of I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States here unto be affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington this 13th day of October in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine and of the independence of the United States of America the 34th, By the president James Madison, F. Smith, Secretary of State."
It took several years residence on the farm before a deed was given. There was bought by Mr. Huffman several years after his first entry, a tract of five acres which joined the place on the north from a Mr. Frantz, making the total number of acres on the farm 205.
-------------------------------------------------------
Other children not located yet:
Elizabeth (Huffman)
b. 15 Mar 1810, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Ostrander Price 1830, Ohio
Eve Cresse (Huffman) TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
d. 1866, Clark County, Ohio
m. George Grisso, Jr. 20 Apr 1835, Clark County, Ohio
Adam Huffman TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Mary Ream 30 Oct 1845, Clark County, Ohio
Martha Jane (Huffman)
b. 1826, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Solomon Marley on 8 Apr 1847, Clark County, Ohio
Article - A Remarkable Homestead And Family History Written in about 1905-06, submitted by Tom Rosenberger Probably written by a son of Ostrander & Elizabeth (Huffman) Price, older sister of John Huffman.
Four miles west of the city of Springfield, Ohio, half in Bethel and half in Springfield Township on the Lower Valley Pike is the old Jacob Huffman farm and stone house. It is a well-known place and to those that live in the west end of the County needs no description. The land undulates back from the north bank of Mad River becoming rolling and somewhat hilly with some bluffs to the east side of the farm. But with the exception of a small portion it is tillable and productive.
The first tenant of the place, Jacob Huffman, came to this country in company with his father and mother and settled on the place in the year 1802, purchasing the land from the Government for $1.25 per acre. He bought about 200 acres. It was located at this time wholly within the bounds of Champaign County and not in Clark as now.
In order to get at the ancestry of this man we must go back to the year 1739. The record show that Henry Huffman, who was the father of Jacob Huffman, was born on the 24th of February in the above-stated year. He is supposed to have been a native of Germany as the records are all written in the German language. He emigrated to America sometime prior to the Revolutionary War settling in the southeastern part of the State of Pennsylvania, where in 1767 or 1768 he married his wife, Agnes, who also was of German descent, having previously come over from that country. To this union were born three children: Jacob, who was born April 29th, 1769; Martha, born Jan. 9th, 1771 and Catherine, born Jan. 11th 1773.
After living some years in Pennsylvania, the family moved to the State of Virginia, locating in Botetourt County on the headwaters of the James River. After several years residence in Virginia, the son, Jacob, emigrated to the West locating first in the town which is now the City of Detroit, Michigan where he worked at the trade of shipbuilding. He evidently concluded about this time to locate permanently in Ohio, as tradition has it that he made two trips by blazed tree route in the winter of 1801-02 between Detroit and old Fort Washington, now the City of Cincinnati, Ohio where the land office was situated in the district where he located his farm.
After settling on the place in the year 1802 he began the construction of a one room round log cabin built out of surrounding timber which completely covered their farm at this time. The house was situated about 40 rods to the south and a little east of the present stone structure or in other words, south of the Lower Valley Pike towards Mad River. This structure has long since passed out of existence.
Shortly after finishing this house, or about the same time, he was married to Miss Catharine Frimood, daughter of the late Geo. Frimood of near Fremont, Ohio. These two sturdy pioneers worked together, clearing out the land-the wife of times helping her husband by taking driftwood from the river adjacent to their home. Tradition also has it that they frequently fed the Indians who would come about their house for nearby there was a large town by the name of Old Piqua, situated about a mile and half west of them along the river.
On the 30th May, 1807 in this cabin home was born a son, Henry Huffman, the only child born in this house. Shortly after this the father, Jacob Huffman, and his wife, for she seems always to have taken an active part with him, began the erection of a two-story hewed log house of very much larger dimensions, quite excelling the original one. It is said that this house was one of the finest in those days and was situated immediately north and back of the present stone house. Some part of the logs that composed this structure were hewed by moonlight, the time during the day being taken up with other duties. The time required during the building of this house seems to have been approximately two to three years for we find that the next child, Elizabeth by name, was born in this house March 15th, 1810.
Likewise, the other children, eight altogether in addition to the two we have mentioned, were born in the house on the following dates: John in 1812; Adam and Eve, twins, in 1814; Reuben in 1816; Martha (no date of birth known); Rachel in 1825; Jacob in 1829 and Samuel in 1831.
These early days were the time of the flax break spinning wheel and carding machine for people did not have store clothes at this time but made their own waring apparel from 'the ground up'. It was also before the time of the cook stoves, gas range, steam radiators and furnaces. For cooking they had the Dutch oven, pot mettle and crane that hung in the big open fire place and hearth that was built in the chimney at the gable end of the house.
Of the original family of Jacob Huffman, there remains but one, Samuel, the youngest, residing in Springfield who is now 75 yrs. of age. Also, there are the two widow, Susanna, wife of John Huffman, now in her 89th year, living at or near Mt. Zion, Indiana and Sarah Huffman, wife of Jacob Huffman, now in her 77th year living in Springfield.
In the years 1825 was begun the erection of the two-story stone house still standing and which has the appearance of standing for ages to come is not torn down. There was previously built in 1827, a stone smoke house which still stands. Also, a stone granery. This has been removed and used in the construction of some other building since built. But the stone house seems to have been the special effort of the lives of Jacob Huffman and his wife. This house stood immediately in front of and to the south of the two-story log house, setting squarely on the brow of the hill which rises from the Valley of Mad River to the north. It is composed of building stone, all quarried on the farm by Jacob himself, and dressed to finish-a task which must have taken an immense amount of labor for one man to do. The walls were two feet thick from the foundation to the second story and from there up they were eighteen inches, the storys being ten feet. Each stone was dressed inside and out, therefore needing no plaster or paint except on the doors and windows. The poplar joist and white oak floor all finished up nicely answered both for ceiling and floor as well. The shingles were made of black walnut timber by hand.
It took about eight years with some help from his wife, Catherin Huffman and the fourth son, Rueben, in the construction of this building. All material in it is the product of the place and it is not to be wondered at taking so long a time when we take into consideration that it was practically the result of one man's labor. He took precaution that it should not be forgotten who was the architect and builder for we find that he placed over the front door in the wall, a solid stone coping with this inscription chiseled in it by himself: "Jacob and Catherin Huffman, 1832".
And no matter how often the property changes hands, the inscription remains as a reminder of the builder. There was also a stone partition running the entire height of the structure from foundation to roof, dividing it into four compartments with elevated stone steps to the entrance of the second story on the back part of the house.After this home was finished in 1832, the family moved into it from the two story log house, standing back of it.
On December 1st, 1842, Jacob Huffman died, being 72 years 7 months of age. Catherin, his wife, or Granny as she was familiarly spoken of, followed him in the year 1866, August 31st in her 80th. She was a remarkable woman of well known integrity and uprightness, scrupulously exact about her household duties. Hers was a home where the latch string always was on the outside and where friends and neighbors was welcome at all times.
The writer well remembers when, a lad of 6 or 8 years, and in the company with other youngsters of the family, we would linger around Granny's door waiting to get an invitation to come in to dinner of which we considered her an expert in the preparation of.
The witness to the deed for the farm from the government reads as follows: "In testimony where of I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States here unto be affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington this 13th day of October in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine and of the independence of the United States of America the 34th, By the president James Madison, F. Smith, Secretary of State."
It took several years residence on the farm before a deed was given. There was bought by Mr. Huffman several years after his first entry, a tract of five acres which joined the place on the north from a Mr. Frantz, making the total number of acres on the farm 205.
-------------------------------------------------------
Other children not located yet:
Elizabeth (Huffman)
b. 15 Mar 1810, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Ostrander Price 1830, Ohio
Eve Cresse (Huffman) TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
d. 1866, Clark County, Ohio
m. George Grisso, Jr. 20 Apr 1835, Clark County, Ohio
Adam Huffman TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Mary Ream 30 Oct 1845, Clark County, Ohio
Martha Jane (Huffman)
b. 1826, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Solomon Marley on 8 Apr 1847, Clark County, Ohio
Married Catharine Friermood on 20 May 1806, Champaign County, Ohio.
Article - A Remarkable Homestead And Family History Written in about 1905-06, submitted by Tom Rosenberger Probably written by a son of Ostrander & Elizabeth (Huffman) Price, older sister of John Huffman.
Four miles west of the city of Springfield, Ohio, half in Bethel and half in Springfield Township on the Lower Valley Pike is the old Jacob Huffman farm and stone house. It is a well-known place and to those that live in the west end of the County needs no description. The land undulates back from the north bank of Mad River becoming rolling and somewhat hilly with some bluffs to the east side of the farm. But with the exception of a small portion it is tillable and productive.
The first tenant of the place, Jacob Huffman, came to this country in company with his father and mother and settled on the place in the year 1802, purchasing the land from the Government for $1.25 per acre. He bought about 200 acres. It was located at this time wholly within the bounds of Champaign County and not in Clark as now.
In order to get at the ancestry of this man we must go back to the year 1739. The record show that Henry Huffman, who was the father of Jacob Huffman, was born on the 24th of February in the above-stated year. He is supposed to have been a native of Germany as the records are all written in the German language. He emigrated to America sometime prior to the Revolutionary War settling in the southeastern part of the State of Pennsylvania, where in 1767 or 1768 he married his wife, Agnes, who also was of German descent, having previously come over from that country. To this union were born three children: Jacob, who was born April 29th, 1769; Martha, born Jan. 9th, 1771 and Catherine, born Jan. 11th 1773.
After living some years in Pennsylvania, the family moved to the State of Virginia, locating in Botetourt County on the headwaters of the James River. After several years residence in Virginia, the son, Jacob, emigrated to the West locating first in the town which is now the City of Detroit, Michigan where he worked at the trade of shipbuilding. He evidently concluded about this time to locate permanently in Ohio, as tradition has it that he made two trips by blazed tree route in the winter of 1801-02 between Detroit and old Fort Washington, now the City of Cincinnati, Ohio where the land office was situated in the district where he located his farm.
After settling on the place in the year 1802 he began the construction of a one room round log cabin built out of surrounding timber which completely covered their farm at this time. The house was situated about 40 rods to the south and a little east of the present stone structure or in other words, south of the Lower Valley Pike towards Mad River. This structure has long since passed out of existence.
Shortly after finishing this house, or about the same time, he was married to Miss Catharine Frimood, daughter of the late Geo. Frimood of near Fremont, Ohio. These two sturdy pioneers worked together, clearing out the land-the wife of times helping her husband by taking driftwood from the river adjacent to their home. Tradition also has it that they frequently fed the Indians who would come about their house for nearby there was a large town by the name of Old Piqua, situated about a mile and half west of them along the river.
On the 30th May, 1807 in this cabin home was born a son, Henry Huffman, the only child born in this house. Shortly after this the father, Jacob Huffman, and his wife, for she seems always to have taken an active part with him, began the erection of a two-story hewed log house of very much larger dimensions, quite excelling the original one. It is said that this house was one of the finest in those days and was situated immediately north and back of the present stone house. Some part of the logs that composed this structure were hewed by moonlight, the time during the day being taken up with other duties. The time required during the building of this house seems to have been approximately two to three years for we find that the next child, Elizabeth by name, was born in this house March 15th, 1810.
Likewise, the other children, eight altogether in addition to the two we have mentioned, were born in the house on the following dates: John in 1812; Adam and Eve, twins, in 1814; Reuben in 1816; Martha (no date of birth known); Rachel in 1825; Jacob in 1829 and Samuel in 1831.
These early days were the time of the flax break spinning wheel and carding machine for people did not have store clothes at this time but made their own waring apparel from 'the ground up'. It was also before the time of the cook stoves, gas range, steam radiators and furnaces. For cooking they had the Dutch oven, pot mettle and crane that hung in the big open fire place and hearth that was built in the chimney at the gable end of the house.
Of the original family of Jacob Huffman, there remains but one, Samuel, the youngest, residing in Springfield who is now 75 yrs. of age. Also, there are the two widow, Susanna, wife of John Huffman, now in her 89th year, living at or near Mt. Zion, Indiana and Sarah Huffman, wife of Jacob Huffman, now in her 77th year living in Springfield.
In the years 1825 was begun the erection of the two-story stone house still standing and which has the appearance of standing for ages to come is not torn down. There was previously built in 1827, a stone smoke house which still stands. Also, a stone granery. This has been removed and used in the construction of some other building since built. But the stone house seems to have been the special effort of the lives of Jacob Huffman and his wife. This house stood immediately in front of and to the south of the two-story log house, setting squarely on the brow of the hill which rises from the Valley of Mad River to the north. It is composed of building stone, all quarried on the farm by Jacob himself, and dressed to finish-a task which must have taken an immense amount of labor for one man to do. The walls were two feet thick from the foundation to the second story and from there up they were eighteen inches, the storys being ten feet. Each stone was dressed inside and out, therefore needing no plaster or paint except on the doors and windows. The poplar joist and white oak floor all finished up nicely answered both for ceiling and floor as well. The shingles were made of black walnut timber by hand.
It took about eight years with some help from his wife, Catherin Huffman and the fourth son, Rueben, in the construction of this building. All material in it is the product of the place and it is not to be wondered at taking so long a time when we take into consideration that it was practically the result of one man's labor. He took precaution that it should not be forgotten who was the architect and builder for we find that he placed over the front door in the wall, a solid stone coping with this inscription chiseled in it by himself: "Jacob and Catherin Huffman, 1832".
And no matter how often the property changes hands, the inscription remains as a reminder of the builder. There was also a stone partition running the entire height of the structure from foundation to roof, dividing it into four compartments with elevated stone steps to the entrance of the second story on the back part of the house.After this home was finished in 1832, the family moved into it from the two story log house, standing back of it.
On December 1st, 1842, Jacob Huffman died, being 72 years 7 months of age. Catherin, his wife, or Granny as she was familiarly spoken of, followed him in the year 1866, August 31st in her 80th. She was a remarkable woman of well known integrity and uprightness, scrupulously exact about her household duties. Hers was a home where the latch string always was on the outside and where friends and neighbors was welcome at all times.
The writer well remembers when, a lad of 6 or 8 years, and in the company with other youngsters of the family, we would linger around Granny's door waiting to get an invitation to come in to dinner of which we considered her an expert in the preparation of.
The witness to the deed for the farm from the government reads as follows: "In testimony where of I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States here unto be affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington this 13th day of October in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine and of the independence of the United States of America the 34th, By the president James Madison, F. Smith, Secretary of State."
It took several years residence on the farm before a deed was given. There was bought by Mr. Huffman several years after his first entry, a tract of five acres which joined the place on the north from a Mr. Frantz, making the total number of acres on the farm 205.
-------------------------------------------------------
Other children not located yet:
Elizabeth (Huffman)
b. 15 Mar 1810, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Ostrander Price 1830, Ohio
Eve Cresse (Huffman) TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
d. 1866, Clark County, Ohio
m. George Grisso, Jr. 20 Apr 1835, Clark County, Ohio
Adam Huffman TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Mary Ream 30 Oct 1845, Clark County, Ohio
Martha Jane (Huffman)
b. 1826, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Solomon Marley on 8 Apr 1847, Clark County, Ohio
Article - A Remarkable Homestead And Family History Written in about 1905-06, submitted by Tom Rosenberger Probably written by a son of Ostrander & Elizabeth (Huffman) Price, older sister of John Huffman.
Four miles west of the city of Springfield, Ohio, half in Bethel and half in Springfield Township on the Lower Valley Pike is the old Jacob Huffman farm and stone house. It is a well-known place and to those that live in the west end of the County needs no description. The land undulates back from the north bank of Mad River becoming rolling and somewhat hilly with some bluffs to the east side of the farm. But with the exception of a small portion it is tillable and productive.
The first tenant of the place, Jacob Huffman, came to this country in company with his father and mother and settled on the place in the year 1802, purchasing the land from the Government for $1.25 per acre. He bought about 200 acres. It was located at this time wholly within the bounds of Champaign County and not in Clark as now.
In order to get at the ancestry of this man we must go back to the year 1739. The record show that Henry Huffman, who was the father of Jacob Huffman, was born on the 24th of February in the above-stated year. He is supposed to have been a native of Germany as the records are all written in the German language. He emigrated to America sometime prior to the Revolutionary War settling in the southeastern part of the State of Pennsylvania, where in 1767 or 1768 he married his wife, Agnes, who also was of German descent, having previously come over from that country. To this union were born three children: Jacob, who was born April 29th, 1769; Martha, born Jan. 9th, 1771 and Catherine, born Jan. 11th 1773.
After living some years in Pennsylvania, the family moved to the State of Virginia, locating in Botetourt County on the headwaters of the James River. After several years residence in Virginia, the son, Jacob, emigrated to the West locating first in the town which is now the City of Detroit, Michigan where he worked at the trade of shipbuilding. He evidently concluded about this time to locate permanently in Ohio, as tradition has it that he made two trips by blazed tree route in the winter of 1801-02 between Detroit and old Fort Washington, now the City of Cincinnati, Ohio where the land office was situated in the district where he located his farm.
After settling on the place in the year 1802 he began the construction of a one room round log cabin built out of surrounding timber which completely covered their farm at this time. The house was situated about 40 rods to the south and a little east of the present stone structure or in other words, south of the Lower Valley Pike towards Mad River. This structure has long since passed out of existence.
Shortly after finishing this house, or about the same time, he was married to Miss Catharine Frimood, daughter of the late Geo. Frimood of near Fremont, Ohio. These two sturdy pioneers worked together, clearing out the land-the wife of times helping her husband by taking driftwood from the river adjacent to their home. Tradition also has it that they frequently fed the Indians who would come about their house for nearby there was a large town by the name of Old Piqua, situated about a mile and half west of them along the river.
On the 30th May, 1807 in this cabin home was born a son, Henry Huffman, the only child born in this house. Shortly after this the father, Jacob Huffman, and his wife, for she seems always to have taken an active part with him, began the erection of a two-story hewed log house of very much larger dimensions, quite excelling the original one. It is said that this house was one of the finest in those days and was situated immediately north and back of the present stone house. Some part of the logs that composed this structure were hewed by moonlight, the time during the day being taken up with other duties. The time required during the building of this house seems to have been approximately two to three years for we find that the next child, Elizabeth by name, was born in this house March 15th, 1810.
Likewise, the other children, eight altogether in addition to the two we have mentioned, were born in the house on the following dates: John in 1812; Adam and Eve, twins, in 1814; Reuben in 1816; Martha (no date of birth known); Rachel in 1825; Jacob in 1829 and Samuel in 1831.
These early days were the time of the flax break spinning wheel and carding machine for people did not have store clothes at this time but made their own waring apparel from 'the ground up'. It was also before the time of the cook stoves, gas range, steam radiators and furnaces. For cooking they had the Dutch oven, pot mettle and crane that hung in the big open fire place and hearth that was built in the chimney at the gable end of the house.
Of the original family of Jacob Huffman, there remains but one, Samuel, the youngest, residing in Springfield who is now 75 yrs. of age. Also, there are the two widow, Susanna, wife of John Huffman, now in her 89th year, living at or near Mt. Zion, Indiana and Sarah Huffman, wife of Jacob Huffman, now in her 77th year living in Springfield.
In the years 1825 was begun the erection of the two-story stone house still standing and which has the appearance of standing for ages to come is not torn down. There was previously built in 1827, a stone smoke house which still stands. Also, a stone granery. This has been removed and used in the construction of some other building since built. But the stone house seems to have been the special effort of the lives of Jacob Huffman and his wife. This house stood immediately in front of and to the south of the two-story log house, setting squarely on the brow of the hill which rises from the Valley of Mad River to the north. It is composed of building stone, all quarried on the farm by Jacob himself, and dressed to finish-a task which must have taken an immense amount of labor for one man to do. The walls were two feet thick from the foundation to the second story and from there up they were eighteen inches, the storys being ten feet. Each stone was dressed inside and out, therefore needing no plaster or paint except on the doors and windows. The poplar joist and white oak floor all finished up nicely answered both for ceiling and floor as well. The shingles were made of black walnut timber by hand.
It took about eight years with some help from his wife, Catherin Huffman and the fourth son, Rueben, in the construction of this building. All material in it is the product of the place and it is not to be wondered at taking so long a time when we take into consideration that it was practically the result of one man's labor. He took precaution that it should not be forgotten who was the architect and builder for we find that he placed over the front door in the wall, a solid stone coping with this inscription chiseled in it by himself: "Jacob and Catherin Huffman, 1832".
And no matter how often the property changes hands, the inscription remains as a reminder of the builder. There was also a stone partition running the entire height of the structure from foundation to roof, dividing it into four compartments with elevated stone steps to the entrance of the second story on the back part of the house.After this home was finished in 1832, the family moved into it from the two story log house, standing back of it.
On December 1st, 1842, Jacob Huffman died, being 72 years 7 months of age. Catherin, his wife, or Granny as she was familiarly spoken of, followed him in the year 1866, August 31st in her 80th. She was a remarkable woman of well known integrity and uprightness, scrupulously exact about her household duties. Hers was a home where the latch string always was on the outside and where friends and neighbors was welcome at all times.
The writer well remembers when, a lad of 6 or 8 years, and in the company with other youngsters of the family, we would linger around Granny's door waiting to get an invitation to come in to dinner of which we considered her an expert in the preparation of.
The witness to the deed for the farm from the government reads as follows: "In testimony where of I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States here unto be affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington this 13th day of October in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine and of the independence of the United States of America the 34th, By the president James Madison, F. Smith, Secretary of State."
It took several years residence on the farm before a deed was given. There was bought by Mr. Huffman several years after his first entry, a tract of five acres which joined the place on the north from a Mr. Frantz, making the total number of acres on the farm 205.
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Other children not located yet:
Elizabeth (Huffman)
b. 15 Mar 1810, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Ostrander Price 1830, Ohio
Eve Cresse (Huffman) TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
d. 1866, Clark County, Ohio
m. George Grisso, Jr. 20 Apr 1835, Clark County, Ohio
Adam Huffman TWIN
b. 1814, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Mary Ream 30 Oct 1845, Clark County, Ohio
Martha Jane (Huffman)
b. 1826, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio
m. Solomon Marley on 8 Apr 1847, Clark County, Ohio
Inscription
1973 Reading of Huffman Burial Grounds:
JACOB HUFFMAN DIED DEC 1, 1842 IN THE 71ST YEAR OF HIS AGE
"THE PAINS OF DEATH ARE JUST
LABORS AND CARES CEASE
AND THIS LONG WARFARE CLOSED AT LAST
HIS SOUL IS FOUND IN PEACE."
Courtesy of Nan Huffman
Family Members
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